IEA Head of Political Economy Kristian Niemietz has written in CapX on new figures demonstrating record dissatisfaction with the NHS among the public.

Kristian wrote:

“Public satisfaction with the NHS has fallen to the lowest levels since records began, according to the latest edition of the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey. Only 29% of respondents are satisfied with the NHS, while 51% are dissatisfied.

“This may not, in itself, be surprising. More than 7 million people are currently on an NHS waiting list of some sort, up from about 4.5 million just before the pandemic, and less than 3 million a decade ago. Of those currently on a waiting list, 4 million have already been waiting for longer than four months, and 400,000 for longer than a year.

“But the results of the BSA survey indicate a massive change. Until very recently, surveys about the NHS always returned phenomenally positive results.

“Criticism of the NHS is no longer the social taboo it once was. If the NHS were to lose its halo, and if more people began to judge it by its actual performance rather than by the mythology around it, it could be real a gamechanger.”

Read Kristian’s full piece here.